My First 30 Days with the Green Mountain Grills Daniel Boone Pellet Grill

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I switched to a pellet grill. This was a big move for me because I used to talk a lot of trash about pellet grills. I used to say pellet grills were “cheating” and I compared them to cooking in an oven; that wasn’t meant as a compliment. I foolishly thought that fiddling with vents all day on my charcoal grill to maintain the right temperature somehow made me a more legit outdoor cook. You know what? No one eating the results of all of that fiddling even knew what I went through for the last 8 – 10 hours. They just knew I was grumpy and slightly drunk from all of the temperature control stress.

Now that I have been cooking with a Green Mountain Grills Daniel Boone pellet grill for the last 30 days, I don’t know why it took me so long to come to my senses. I used to make fun of the set-it-and-forget and oven like performance of a pellet grill, now it is my favorite feature. This pellet grill has completely replaced both my charcoal grill and my gas grill. Here are a few pros and cons I see after the first 30 days.

Pellet Grill Pros

• Temperature control! Beef jerky at 160 for 10 hours? No problem.
• Wifi monitoring and alerts for meat temperature. No more waking up from a nap in a terror, running out to check the vents. Just don’t forget to install the Wifi antenna like me at first.
• Easy cleanup. The Green Mountain Grills Daniel Boone has a port on the side to suck out the ashes with a shop vac.
• Great wood fired flavor. Everything I cook has that great flavor.

Pellet Grill Cons

• Susceptible to grease fires. Keep that drip pan clean or poof.
• Not quite searing temps. There are a few hot spots on the grill where I can get some nice caramelization when I reverse sear a steak but it takes some practice and timing to get it right.
• Less smoke output compared to other smokers I have used. This is actually a pro for my wife who doesn’t like super smokey food, but some will complain that it doesn’t produce as much smoke as other dedicated smokers. I hear people add a smoke tube.